Re: basic two-consonant clusters in English

On Oct 17, 1:57 pm, analys...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Oct 16, 8:19 pm, "benli...@xxxxxxxxxx" <benli...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:



On Oct 17, 9:15 am, analys...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

On Oct 16, 4:06 pm, "Peter T. Daniels" <gramma...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Oct 16, 1:27 pm, analys...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

On Oct 13, 7:24 pm, analys...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

On Oct 13, 12:24 pm, analys...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

I wish to limit myself to p,t,k,b,d,g  for the time being.

Are statistics available as to the frequency of occurrence of the 36
possibilities?

The first interesting juxtaposition I can think of is in
'blackguard'.  M-W gives three pronunciations - in two of which the
'k' isn't sounded.

next question:

is "backed down" homophonous with "back down"?

Probably. But they can't occur in identical environments, so (a) one
can't be sure and (b) it doesn't matter.

It has nothing to do with your idiotic claim about /gd/, however.
It's /k#d/ all the way.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Since I wrote

At first I thought kd would be difficult to maintain in speech, but
then we have smackdown and back down, attack dog etc. where the 'k'
is easy to maintain (and substituting g would stand out as poor
speech
pretty obviously) and sure enough they are spelt with 'ck'.

end quote

Its pretty clear who the idiot is.

Well, it's not clear to me yet.
Your claim about /gd/ was on the other thread, and has been reduced to
near-vacuity.

To the brain-calcified intellectual stalinists who infest this ng,,
perhaps - but not to truth -seekers who can see intuitively (as
evidenced by Ranjith in another thread) - that words sometimes do
"remember" their origins.


Good, I was beginning to think you might not find an opportunity for
self-congratulation in this thread.

I don't know what you were getting at in the above. Was it your claim
that the k would be voiced in "breakdown" (something for which we
still have no more than your assertion)?

No.  I am saying it should be - but since English tolerates horrible
juxtapositions such as in "costs', 'orange-juice'  etc. it apparently
isn't, merrily adding to the list of poorly pronounced compound
words.

So your main point was simply to parade your distaste for the sound of
English?

 I suggested that the euphonically called for 'breagdown'
wouldn;t sound out of place - and its being denied without evidence
that I would find acceptable.

You _asserted_ "breagdown" on the basis of no evidence existing
outside your own head.


 Weren't you trying to claim

that <k> spellings would assimilate and <ck> spellings would not?
Still nothing resembling evidence for that. And what does "backed
down" have to do with the main point (assuming there is one)?

it might have everything to do with it - think about it - there might
be Vernerian insight lurking here as to which kd juxtapositions call
for the 'k' to be sounded clearly.

If you find some, please let us know. In the meantime your self-
indulgent pseudo-questions merely waste time here.

Ross Clark
.